The Beginning of the Golden Age – Freestyle Cool J 1985

This video is mindblowing on so many levels – it’s the earliest footage of LL performing vocally (there is apparently earlier footage of him breaking). There’s a small crowd in the college gym that’s apparently getting its first taste of rapping/scratching. LL explains what he’s going to do before actually doing it; at this point, he hasn’t even released his first album!

If you click through to the YouTube page, the son of the man that hired LL for this performance reveals details in the comments.